No More Mourning
by CaveSpiderson
Summary: Joseph meets an old friend after a long time apart. { Leave a "Remember Me" in my ask, and I'll write a drabble about my character trying to get yours to remember them [be it from an accident, meeting them after years apart, feel free to specify.] }


"Jojo."

At first, Joseph didn't pick up the sound of someone saying his name. He busied himself reading the comics section, while sipping on his coffee so lovingly prepared by the tired baristas. The place buzzed around him. He raised his brow as he scanned over what sort of crazy shenanigans Garfield and company were getting into today.

"Jojo!"

To accompany the voice, a hand shook his shoulder. Joseph jumped, and had a narrow brush with death as hot coffee almost spilled down the front of his clothes.

Suzie Q leaned back, a wrinkled hand going up to her mouth as she gasped. Joseph set his coffee and paper aside, grumbling a short, "What?" Suzie Q grabbed his hand and pulled him close, leaning in as if she were confiding a secret.

Her voice dropped down to a whisper.

"Don't look now, Jojo, but that man over there keeps staring at us. He's really creeping me out!"

Joseph snapped his head to look over his shoulder. Suzie Q immediately swatted him.

"I said don't look! He could be a real weirdo," Her expression went grim. The wrinkles on her face deepened. "Perhaps we should leave, Jojo."

"Let me get a look at this bastard first; he might not even be staring at us." Joseph muttered.

He sat up straight and twisted around once more. He scanned the people standing about or sitting, which weren't many considering it was a quiet café. Finally, he locked eyes with an older gentleman sitting directly across the room from them. He had his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap. His hair was a faded grey and a moustache graced his upper lip. Despite looking around Joseph's age, he was dressed sharply in a breezy open suit with a popped collar.

Joseph was sure he had never seen the man before in his life, yet something about him was eerily familiar.

He turned back around and brushed Suzie Q's hand off his knee. He then rose, adjusting his hat.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to talk to that creep."

"Jojo-"

Joseph was not to be persuaded as he pushed in his chair and pulled back his shoulders, trying to make himself seem larger and more threatening than he already was. When he walked, he strode. The man didn't flinch, or avert his eyes, not even as Joseph leaned in inches from his face and slammed his beefy hands down on the table. A few uneasy onlookers shifted, but the man remained calm. He even smiled a little at the very most corner of his mouth.

Joseph stuck his lip out and furrowed his brows. "What're you staring at? Do you have a problem that you wanna take outside?" For emphasis, he jabbed an accusing finger at the man's chest.

The man only twitched. There was a long silence as he continued looking at Joseph apprehensively, which only managed to make Joseph even more pissed off.

It felt like forever before he finally said, in a smooth voice, "Sorry. I could have sworn I've seen the lady you're with somewhere before, and I was trying to place it. She looks like... Someone I used to know."

"Well, she ain't. Isn't. Whatever." Joseph stood straight, but kept his finger pointed, as if it were keeping the man from making a move. He didn't seem impressed. "Neither of us know who you are, so mind your own business, will you?"

Dramatically, Joseph turned to go back to Suzie Q, trying to place where he had heard that tone of voice before. Was it in a movie? On the television? Or was it...

"Jojo, you've grown up a lot since I last saw you."

Joseph whipped around again. The man was now standing just a bit shorter than Joseph. He leaned one hand on the table, while the other slid into his pocket. As Joseph looked fully at his face and registered what he saw, he breathed in, but couldn't find the strength to breathe out. His throat tightened and the colour drained from his face.

"Oh my God." At first, that was all he could muster to say. Thousands of thoughts rushed through his mind, before finally the build up could only be expressed through pressure in his eyes and hot tears. "You're not serious. This can't be."

The man smiled again with the corner of his mouth, looked down, and shrugged. Joseph's shoulders were shuddering when he looked back up.

"It's me, stronzo."

Joseph didn't need any more proof of what he was seeing. With grit teeth and clenched fists, he let out a low growl of Caesar's name, and launched himself at said Italian. He grabbed onto the other with an absolute vice grip, clinging and refusing to let go. Joseph balled his fists into the shoulders of Caesar's sleek coat and seemingly tried to burrow into him.

Although he wasn't as strong as his beefcake of a friend, Caesar held back as tight as he could.

"You sonuvabitch...!" Joseph hissed, low enough so that only Caesar could hear. His voiced cracked, but only slightly. "You fucking bastard...! I cried over you, asshole! We all thought you were dead, but you're actually alive and I'm- I'm gonna dig your grave and throw you back in it if I don't get the best goddamn excuse I've ever heard! I swear! I mean it, you slimy old geezer!"

Faint breath trailed from Caesar's lips as Joseph crushed him (more or less unintentionally). Joseph gave a sniffle.

"I know what you're gonna say next- 'Jojo, you're strangling me'."

"J-Jojo- you're strangling me-"

A grin took to Joseph's lips, muted as it was by the gathering tears in his eyes, as the situation registered with Caesar. His expression dropped, but only briefly; as Joseph squeezed him tighter and lifted him off the ground, he let out a yowl as something in his back popped.

"Jojo! P-put me down! I can't breathe!"

"Good! How's it feel? Better than faking your own death, or worst, huh?" Joseph, by then, was set on squeezing the life straight out of Caesar. "You brought this on yourself, you sonuvabitch! Fifty-goddamn-years! Fifty!"

Caesar wheezed. Momentarily, sparks flew from his fingertips, then travelled directly into Joseph's massive chest.

His eyes shot open as pure Hamon energy flowed through him for the first time in countless years. Startled, Joseph dropped Caesar, leaving him to almost fall into the table, and grabbed at the place where he felt the familiar warmth tingle. It reminded him of times long since gone, there was only one thing other than their wits that ensured their survival- the Ripple.

So many memories came back at once that it was severely overwhelming.

Joseph breathed unevenly in an attempt of keeping the tears at bay, but found it easier said than done. Hurriedly, he palmed at his eyes, his chest tightening, and his body flooding with emotions. Caesar gave him space, taken aback.

The tears couldn't be stopped now. They rolled down Joseph's cheeks, fat and hot, and made his beard damp. He did his best to wipe them away and keep himself under control, but it was futile; he sobbed and snorted, finally looking up at his friend with a face so pathetic it was almost disturbing. Caesar's own chest tightened and he felt things he couldn't begin to describe. A horrible cocktail of misery, guilt, and pity.

"Caesar," Joseph choked out, ashamed with himself. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand. "Why? Why did you wait so damn long, man?"

Caesar tried to swallow, but his voice was cotton dry. He felt like a thousand eyes watched him. "It's... It's a long story." He added, as an afterthought, "It involves the Nazis."

Joseph breathed in deeply as a final attempt at capturing his wayward emotions again. A comforting hand slid along his forearm, and Suzie Q showed herself at last. She stayed where she was, looking at Caesar as if she were seeing a ghost; for a moment, Caesar figured she was convinced he was just that. She came forward, gently pushing past Joseph, who still sniffled and sobbed, and stood straight. Her eyes were wide, awestruck.

"Caesar...?"

Caesar looked at the ground, the tears that stung his eyes prior finally breaking free. "It's been a-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he heard a clap then, seconds later, felt an unimaginable sting. His head snapped to the side and his hand shot up to touch his face. He looked down at Suzie Q in disbelief. She, meanwhile, prepared herself for another blow.

"How dare you! How dare you, Caesar Zeppeli!" She cried. She went for the second slap, and this time, Caesar caught it, along with her left hand, which came flying as well.

Red with rage, she struggled against his grip.

"You let me go! Let go of me! You bastard of a man! How dare you, idiot! How _dare_ you!"

She struggled relentlessly, shaking her head, hollering, and throwing a fit. As Joseph came in to restrain her and pull her back, Caesar pulled her closer to his chest.

"Fifty years and _now_ you show your face! You have some nerve, Zeppeli-" She wretched her hand away from his grip with all her strength and banged it on his chest. A metal ringing soon followed along with the ebbing pain in her hand.

Despite the pain and the curious sound, Suzie Q looked up at Caesar. Tears shined in her aged eyes and her mouth shook.

"...We missed you so much. We thought you were dead," She was quieter now, yet still bitter with her tone. Joseph held her shoulders and looked at Caesar, more composed than before, but far from alright as well.

In a time where he needed them most, words failed Caesar. He looked between them both, mute. The tears he worked hard to hold back started sliding down his cheeks in waterfalls.

He looked to the side and tried to hide his face behind his hand. Suzie Q saw this and opened her arms wide; she wrapped them around Caesar's middle and hugged him tight. Quick to follow her lead, Joseph swept up behind them and bear-hugged him too, pinning her between them. Suzie Q rubbed her cheek to Caesar's chest and Caesar started bawling.

When he finally spoke, it was weak and cracked with tears.

"I didn't mean for it to be like this," he managed out. "I missed you both too, it- I- ah, mama mia..."

Another wave of tears hit him and he struggled to keep it together. Comfortingly, Suzie Q rubbed his back. For good measures, she beat her fist there a couple times. Joseph sniffled, reaching up to fan his eyes.

"You're gonna make me start crying again too, Jesus," He said, giving a weak laugh at the end. Caesar started apologizing, only to be shushed. "Hey- hey, now, look here- look at us, you old geezer."

Caesar did that, his red face and eyes puffy.

He looked down at the faces of his friends, ones that he hadn't seen in almost half a century, and couldn't help but think of how they hadn't changed at all, while at the same time were completely different people.

Caesar tried to blink the tears out of his eyes until Joseph reached a hand out and wiped them away for him.

They locked eyes and Joseph gave him a weak, teary smile that utterly stopped and warmed his heart all at once.

"Welcome back, li'l Caesar salad."


End file.
